Google Shuts Down Map Maker Following Hacks 37
Errorcod3 writes: Google has temporarily shut down Map Maker while it works on a way to stop people from inserting pranks into its maps. A statement from Google explains that the service isn't going away, just shutting down while a new moderation system is worked on. "Given the current state of the system, we have come to the conclusion that it is not fair to any of our users to let them continue to spend time editing. Every edit you make is essentially going to a backlog that is growing very fast," Google's Pavithra Kanakarajan wrote. "We believe that it is more fair to only say that if we do not have the capacity to review edits at roughly the rate they come in, we have to take a pause. We have hence decided to temporarily disable editing across all countries starting Tuesday, May 12, 2015, till we have our moderation system back in action."
Huh"? (Score:5, Insightful)
In what way was this a "hack"?
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Today I learned that samzenpus's understanding of "hacking" is on par with a school computer lab attendant who thinks that changing the desktop wallpaper is "hacking."
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It is if you're using Windows 7 Starter edition [microsoft.com].
Seriously, who's the idiot who came up with that lame idea?
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http://mashable.com/2015/05/11/google-map-maker-disable/
It's a cool hack.
Because ... crowd source? (Score:5, Insightful)
Honestly, isn't this kind of an inherent thing with crowd sourced data?
It seems kind of dumb to on the one hand think you'll get everyone to help populate your data for free, and on the other hand that you'll get perfectly valid data in all cases.
Congratulations, you've opened up something as a free for all .. the anarchy, graffiti and pranks are an inherent part of that.
WTF to corporations think, crowd sourced data would be magically free, lucrative, and error free? Because that would be stupid.
I rank this as a big giant "no freakin' kidding". This is what happens when you expect the intertubes to make you a commercial product.
Re:Because ... crowd source? (Score:5, Interesting)
I think the usual theory is that good data will overwhelm bad data. The problem is that assumes that the people entering bad data are outnumbered by folks willing to put in the effort to put in good data. Essentially, that those who will add good data for fun outnumber those who will add bad data for fun. Unfortunately that is frequently not true.
TLDR: there are more assholes than hobbyist cartographers.
Re:Because ... crowd source? (Score:5, Funny)
I always suspected Australia wasn't real
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You're right; it's just southern Germany.
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The problem is that assumes that the people entering bad data are outnumbered by folks willing to put in the effort to put in good data.
It's too bad people are so eager to play pranks on such a nice, non-evil corporation like Google.
Re:Because ... crowd source? (Score:5, Insightful)
TLDR: there are more assholes than hobbyist cartographers.
Actually, I don't think there are. Keep in mind that MapMaker isn't new; it's been open for years and working reasonably well. There's just been an uptick in usage (valid and vandalism) that has swamped the old moderation system. So, they need to improve the moderation system, then it'll be back on line.
Re:Because ... crowd source? (Score:5, Interesting)
TLDR: there are more assholes than hobbyist cartographers.
Why not develop a test to detect hobbyist cartographers?
They could start by requiring would-be submitters to prove their identity and use an Android device to visit the location to prove that they've physically been within the geographical neighborhood in the past 90 days, before they are able to submit edits to an area.
Next they should have some process by which good editors earn rank, and new users' submissions get reviewed by the community --- of course, whoever reviews them has to be someone who's visited the physical vicinity of the addition / edit.
If there has been a recent correction requested to the map; they can prompt other users of Google maps who map out a destination or approach an area, to please confirm if there is something wrong with the map.
Re:Because ... crowd source? (Score:5, Funny)
Or, and I'm just spitballing here, people could be adults and not think they're being cool and edgy by putting a dick somewhere on a map. Personal responsibility and all that.
This is why we can't have nice things.
Re:Because ... crowd source? (Score:5, Insightful)
LOL, have you seen the internet before? Or people for that matter?
Because, really, the aggregate behavior of the internet is only slightly less mature than an 11 year old with ADHD.
For as long as there have been humans, if you have an open, anonymous forum, you will get this kind of stuff [mentalfloss.com].
The idiocy is pretending the world will magically behave to standards of being "adults" just because you think they should. In fact, that's bordering on irrational, because it's simply not founded in anything.
If you want nice things, make 'em yourself .. don't rely on the fucking internet to do it for you. And sure as hell don't be surprised when someone puts in a penis joke.
Humans are collectively base, puerile, childish, obscene, intelligent, contradictory, funny, stupid, smart ... and everything else you can imagine.
Deal with it.
I'm firmly of the opinion that any crowd sourced data both should and will have dick and fart jokes. Because it's funny, and it demonstrates that the idea of expecting humanity to conform to your standards of behavior is idiotic, and completely ignorant of reality.
To most people the internet is a toy, a diversion, a source of amusement ... that Google wants us to write them a product they can use to sell more ads ... that's not our damned problem.
The internet is one thing, and one thing only: a Steaming Heap of Innovative Technology, in the hands of a billion poo-flinging monkeys.
Don't expect it to trend towards mature and erudite behavior. So far society hasn't done that on balance either.
Re:Because ... crowd source? (Score:4)
Penny Arcade once expressed this well: the ability of user to mod, or contribute, to a game can be measured in "mean time to penis". With fully crowdsourced tools, MTTP is close to 0 (witness the current GNAA/Penisbird first post). With very minimal user ability to affect the product MTTP is high - but that just means the product is awkward to use, not that you have somehow discouraged juvinality.
Re:Because ... crowd source? (Score:4, Insightful)
Most likely it's because of those well-publicized dick images on the map. And the famous Android-peeing-on-Apple image. And a few others out there.
Quite likely what Google wanted was a way for its maps to stay updated, and what it ended up with was a virtual bathroom wall, with the exception that not only is it useless, it makes Google's map data even worse than useless if Google tries to rely on it for navigation or routing purposes.
"Turn left onto Penis way, then right onto Vagina Road".
Then there might be a concerted effort to "google-bomb" Google Maps and force a bunch of people down side streets that were reclassified as thoroughfares and all that.
The funny thing is - OpenStreetMap doesn't seem to suffer from this problem, despite it crowdsourcing all the map data.
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Re:Because ... crowd source? (Score:4, Interesting)
I consider this Rule #1 in any kind of development project: Never trust the user's input.
It doesn't matter if you told the user to select 1 to 10 and gave them a drop down box to choose the appropriate number. Don't trust that only numbers from 1 to 10 will be coming to your application. Check to make sure that the input is indeed a number and not "1; Delete from Users". Make sure that the number is within your 1 - 10 integer boundaries and not -1, 13, or 3.14159265. Only once the input has been fully vetted/sanitized should it be used.
Obviously, things get more complicated when you get up to Map Maker levels of complexity. You can't simply run IsNewDataValid(x). However, this is where you should have someone review the data for any obvious issues. It won't remove all abuses (people might sneak in graffiti using many small, innocuous-looking updates instead of one big one), but it can help stop major abuses. It also can slow down approvals of user data, but sometimes slow posting of data is preferable to letting everything through and then looking foolish when someone posts something inappropriate.
Victim of success (Score:4, Insightful)
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They didn't review this... (Score:2, Insightful)
updates prior to making them live. Seems like a failing on Google's part to not put in a review system for all map updates. Its not a hack, they used the system as it was designed to make updates.
Remember an XKCD, but can't find it now... (Score:2)
Google's Pavithra Kanakarajan
I mean, Carl...
Starting May 12, 2015 (Score:1)
For the curious... (Score:5, Informative)
Move to OpenStreetMap (Score:1)
I think it is time to move to OpenStreetMap. The information you submit is public domain and the editor is much better than Google Maps Maker.